First time sailors, model enthusaists, former dingy racers and bluewater sailors have combined to race America's Cup model sailboats in Texas on the clear blue waters of Atascocita, Kingwood, and Summerwood in the Houston area, and in the clear blue waters of Grapevine in the Dallas area.

Racing these high performance entry level boats in a fleet will push your reaction time to the limit. Racing is by ISAF and one design class rules. Realizing that close sailboat racing can become contentious, and the skill level will always range from rank beginner to very good, this club's avowed objective is to place having fun as the primary priority, which means arguing to any degree will net a warning, and prolonged or chronic arguing will result in being excluded from the club. So, if your competitive manners tend toward contentious, this may not be the Club for you.

If you are new to model sailing, visit the AMYA classes for a thumbnail of each of the model classes currently raced in the USA.

Of all the choices, the CR 914 has the highest performance capability and the strictest one-design rules of all the entry level priced boats. The one design limitations keep the boats "stock", or all the same, where being competitive is a matter of tuning and helmsmanship, rather than buying aftermarket add-ons.

The CR 914, 914 mm or 36 inches in length and 5 feet in height, is manufactured by CR Industries in Japan and upgraded for performance and dependability in the USA by the National Distributor, Chesapeake Performance Model Yachts. The boats, upgraded by Chesapeake, can be purchased from the National Distributor as a kit or completely built with custom paint and graphics. Locally, the Dallas group has an inventory of the the upgraded kits from Chesapeake.

Used boats generally are scarce and sometimes at a premium because of the popularity of this growing class. Occasionally one will show up on eBay or in the AMYA magazine. You might be cautious about saltwater boats.

Should you decide to sail with us, check the current channel assignments before getting your boat. There are 36 channels available, and some have already been assigned. If there is an assigned channel where we show the skipper as inactive or moved, ask about it and we will see if he is ready to give his channel up. Any of our skippers that remain inactive for a year, may lose their channel reservation to make room for new boats.

When ordering a boat, make sure you request either the channel you want or let them know the channels you don't want. Let us know your channel choice right away and we will reserve that channel for you.

We began racing in 2000, became an AMYA Club in 2001, and before losing skippers to other parts of the US, have been home to over twenty CR 914's to date. In 2002 - 2003, individual raceday participation ranges from 5 to 10 boats. Our sailors placed third at the 2002 Nationals in New York and seventh at the 2001 Nationals in Colorado. The 2003 Nationals will be in San Diego.

Local competition is by skill level in Gold and Silver A Fleets and a B Fleet, all with handicapped starts. The handicapping system makes newcomers competitive from the first day. Everyone's skill level progresses rapidly, taking only a short time to go from novice to expert. The objective of our racing is to have fun and make new friends. We sail by the rules, help each other in learning the rules, and resolve differences as friends to keep it fun.

With everyone committed and busy, we decided to limit our association to just the fun part. We have no regular meetings, committees, etc. All of our business, except for names, addresses and telephone numbers, is on the website, and planning is done during socials after our sail racing and by e-mail. The main objective is to make the most of our sailing time.

So far, we have no dues, no bylaws, no commodore, no vice commodore, no officers. If you own a CR 914, we will include you and reserve a channel number for you. If you want to get involved with club planning and events, ask, there are things to do. We have a trophy arrangement where a winning skipper may buy himself a trophy when he wins. If you have an interest in our club, or have any questions, contact us (take the NOSPAM out of the address manually) through our Houston harbormaster or our Dallas harbormaster.